Time Flies
by lilpurplebird
Summary: A single healthy dragon can live for many centuries. Its life can be as interesting as it is equally fleeting.


So I developed an idea for a new HTTYD story after seeing the sequel a second time. It originally was going to be a one-shot with an ethereal feel, but the longer I thought about it, I felt it would be better off as a chaptered story, though I'm not sure if the pacing would really "work" how I want as it is. Eh, it's worth a try, and since I've wanted to contribute another story to the fandom for a while, might as well go with it. Kinda feels a bit like I'm experimenting with this story, so hope it turns out well.

Hope you enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** _How to Train Your Dragon_ is copyrighted to Cressida Cowell as author of the books, and DreamWorks for the films. Keep those emotions coming, you two.

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One Month

For creatures that can live for centuries, dragons have always been quick to become independent. They matured slowly, but with a good teacher for a parent, they could be on their own months after Hatching Day. Every dragon species had their own special lessons for their young, unique life-long techniques passed from generation to generation. Even within members of the same species, each individual was different.

The young nameless dragon turned heads as he landed on the island and made his way inside. They all towered over him, but he took little heed to them since none of them bothered to approach—though it was not long before there was whispering. He kept his head high, wings folded, and his tail off the ground, eyes straight ahead, not letting the buzz bother him. He could smell the throne room close by where his target of interest was, felt the rumbling under his feet. There was no doubt his arrival had been made known.

When he entered the dark, warm chamber, he caught sight of the multitude on the lofts shrinking back. A low hum echoed through the room, and from the smoking pit in the center rose the largest dragon he had ever seen, and it was just the snout. As the lighting was from the glow in the pit, the scales appeared as a dark gray. The eyes on it were tiny compared to the head, which brought the young dragon to believe it could not see him. He watched the nostrils flare as it snorted a blast of hot air, which brought his wings to fan out and his claws to sink into the rock to keep from blowing away.

"State your business, or leave this island," it boomed.

Sitting on his hindquarters and straightening his spine, the young dragon met the piercing gaze. He ignored a heavy feeling in his chest to reply as boldly as possible while flashing his teeth, "I am here to join your nest."

A small drone began buzzing in the background before it went silent when the large dragon grunted. "Why should I accept you into the nest?" it asked gruffly, looking back at him.

An ear twitched. He was starting to get somewhere. "I have excellent scouting skills."

"We already have scouters."

"But how good are they at night?" He slightly unfolded his wings and lowered himself to show off his dark scales. "I am excellent at flight, both in speed and maneuverability."

The eyes narrowed in suspicious, which brought a hint of a smirk on his face. He wondered how much brainpower this one dragon had in that frilly head, or how it was it could even see. "You are either a very confident or very stupid dragon to boast as such." Another blast of air hit him straight on when it snorted once more. "What is your age?"

He straightened up more. "I hatched during the last moon."

Another wave of crones started up. He was able to catch "There's a moon tonight, right?" before it was cut off from a look. When their gazes met once more, the large reptile growled, "What is your species?"

His tail flicked. "I have been told that I am called a Night Fury."

To his surprise, the alpha let out a bark, which he interpreted as a small laugh. "That explains why I can only smell you, it irritates me that I cannot see past my own snout." He blinked. It was news to him there was a dragon with poor eyesight, though as he took note of the lighting, it started to make some sense. Most dragons he had seen had large eyes, though that was because they were always outside. He did not know how this particular dragon arrived there, or for how long it lived in the cave, for the entrance was tiny in comparison, and the hole had to lead to a fiery sea. How it could still move around intrigued him more than its arrival.

"What is a Night Fury like you doing this far out?" he was interrupted from his thoughts.

He had felt such a question was to be asked, but he responded differently than he wanted. "I had traveled without rest across the waters for new land."

There was a hint of interest in the large dragon's voice. "You left your old nest willingly? And after only one moon?"

"I have no mother to raise me."

"I will not be raising you, if that is what you are seeking."

Such a remark hardly fazed him; he never expected any of the dragons to take him in under their wing. "I can take care of myself."

"Oh?" The dragon sounded surprised, but then it was quickly dropped. "So why come here?"

Sternly meeting the gaze (despite it being rather pointless), he focused his stance by folding his wings, straightening his spine, and feet touching at the heels. Jutting out his lower jaw, he stated, "To prove my worth as a dragon."

The alpha let out another laugh from the throat, louder and longer this time. "You have a way with words, young one, bringing me to inquiries to keep me from chasing you out." The eyes gleamed when the dragon sat back (or leaned, he could not tell) from the ledge. "Well, then, you have better not been just for show. Prove yourself at tonight's hunt, and you have yourself a nest. Fail, and you will be wise to not show your face around here, or you will sleep in the pits of my stomach with the other failures." The irises hardened, which brought him to blink at how sharp they suddenly appeared. "Understood?"

The Night Fury nodded and let out a snort. "Sir. Er, Ma'am." Now that he thought on it, he could not tell if the alpha was male or female.

It was not amused from his addition. "Do not flatter me more than you have. Just bow and leave my sights."

As the beady eyes squinted down at him, and the throng turned their attention on him, the young dragon bowed his body without breaking eye-contact, then backed away. He turned around only when he cleared the threshold of the chamber, and quickly bounded off for the exit. Then he paused and sighed a little under his breath. "Can't believe that worked," he muttered, but he felt a bit proud of himself.

Glancing around outside, he hopped out onto the gravel and shot up vertically until he had a full view of the island. He was a bit disappointed it was rockier and grayer than he thought, but he had promised himself he would stop at the first nest he found. Taking in the surroundings, he stared out at the sea of fog and rock spires. It did not look like a welcoming place, but at least there was ocean. If he were to ever get bored of the nest in the future, he could leave, so he at least had that going for him.

In the air, he heard a long, low howl that emitted from within the island, drowning out the dragon crones. Spinning in place, he caught sight of a small flight heading out to sea, quickly disappearing into the fog. With a flap of his wings, he shot out after them, catching up to the back dragons in seconds, though in the dark they did not see him until he inched closer.

"Oh, aren't ye the spawn of Loki," one gasped, shaking his head and rubbing his chest as he stabilized himself. "This old 'eart is easy to scare."

Looking at them, the Night Fury pulled from his memory banks they were the more heavier ones. He always thought the bodies looked as though they weighed down the wings, finding them curiously odd much like with the two-headed species. Compared to the others, however, they were more mild.

"You're a brave one to stand up to the Queen like that," another said, sounding a bit feeble. It was then he realized they were older dragons, which explained why they were slower than even other members of their species. "Too small to eat, though."

The Night Fury's ear flicked, and he tilted his head, ignoring the last statement. "I had to present myself somehow."

"Yer lucky the Queen took it easy on ye," the first one told him, "she's not always in a good mood." He then leaned in closer. "But why join this nest?"

"I needed a new place to stay, but I like to explore."

"Left the nest early, is tha' right?" A small chortle bubbled from his thick throat. "Ye 'ave to be the youngest I've seen out on 'is own."

"They leave the nest earlier and earlier these days, have I not said before?" the second spoke up, patting himself. "But you never listen, you say I'm going mad."

"Times are a-changing, after all," was the comment, overlooking the complaint. "Ye called yerself a Night Fury?"

"I did..." He trailed off, developing questions as to why they were pointing out the obvious.

"Knew of 'em, but in all my two 'undred Gronckle years, I never saw one." There was a faint smile on his face, and a twinkle in an eye. "Ye a beautiful young 'un. It would be a shame to see ye eaten by the Queen."

Before he spoke up, a roar near the front sounded, and from the side swooped in a large, reddish-orange dragon, curved horns jutting from the skull. The two Gronckle shrunk back a bit from the gleam in its fiery eyes before it glinted in his direction. "What are you doing here?" he snapped at the Night Fury, getting in his face and breathing hot air over him.

He glared back, huffing at the smell of sulfur. "I was told by the large dragon to join the raid. This _is _the raid, right?"

"Oh, _you're_ the one who met with the Queen unannounced." There was a slight snarl to his voice as he scanned him. "You're nothing but a loudmouth runt, talking all big about being a skilled scouter." When he snorted, flame shot out. "You think you're as smart as you claim to be, but you're not fooling _this_ Nightmare. This is not the flight you were supposed to be in."

"Well, I was told to go hunting tonight, and you were the first I saw."

Another snort, this one of irritation. The flames were more uncomfortable than they usually were, but the Night Fury stood his ground. "Nothing I can do now. But if you do anything stupid, Night Fury, I _will_ take you out. I lead this flight, and I decide who stays and goes at a moment's notice."

"If you are the leader, tell me what I should do so I do stay in line."

The dragon's eyes widened for a brief second before squinting from furrowed brows. "Oh, a wiseguy. I don't care if you _are_ only a month-old, I am not taking to you lightly." He shoved him back with a ram of the head, but kept him at eye level. "I want you to stay out of our way if you know what's good for you. Keep to the skies, and watch for other rival nests. The prey put up a fight, but that is how we like it."

"Tell 'im about the offerings," the feeble one said, though he was quiet like he was afraid to speak to the large one.

He barely glanced at him, but he rolled his eyes. "Right, he has to take in something for the Queen." He sneered. "The Queen needs to be fed before we can eat our fill. If you bring nothing, you get eaten yourself. So I _suppose_ I will let you take in _something_."

The thought of going down the Queen's gullet made him shudder slightly, but he quickly composed himself when the dragon pulled back. A question came to mind that moment, which surprised him a bit—he had never been told what they were hunting, and he had forgotten to ask. "What are we hunting tonight?" he inquired.

The Nightmare turned around, still irritated. "Have you heard of these humans?"

The name brought him to fondly recall tales the dragons at the previous nest used to tell the young ones. A single male was describe as a large, less hairy bear with a temper to match. The only difference being they walked on their hind legs and carried weapons bigger than themselves in their free forelegs, and the meat was rather tough, so they were not eaten often. Everyone would roar themselves to tears every time there was a reenactment of the creatures. The Night Fury never fully got the humor behind it, but he had enjoyed it nevertheless.

"I heard stories," he responded, hiding an amused smirk.

"Aggressive beasts, very territorial." The toothy grin appeared to glow as his face was thrown into shadow. "They keep and hoard prey to themselves, and they're constantly overflowing with them. So we go in and take their meat."

Brows furrowing in suspicion, the young dragon asked, "Why not hunt our _own_ food?"

"We are!" he barked, sounding defensive. His tone returned to a professional state on the next breath. "Other packs go out hunting in faraway forests and oceans, but us, we were specified to go to this one place."

His doubts not once faltered. "Why?"

"Sheep and cattle are fatter in their care. They also are always cooped up in one place, very easy to get to."

"Never had this 'sheep' and 'cattle'." The Night Fury was going to admit to not knowing of them, but figured he was going to learn quickly on site, so he threw out a suggestion. "How about fish? Is fish fine?"

"Big fish is acceptable, but we're not hunting big fish tonight."

"We are approaching the island!" came an announcement from the front.

It was then the young dragon realized the fog had become clouds some time during the flight, and they were clearing. The dark ocean below twinkled from the round moon, casting silver broken streaks across the uneasy surface. Straight ahead, and approaching fast, was the target. As cluttered as it looked, everything appeared peaceful. Some firelight dotted the unnatural structures, but there was no other light source. The rest of the island was covered in forest and cliffs, leaving him to believe the population was small.

Many questions flew around his head as he assessed it. How common are these "sheep" and "cattle" that the humans can spare a few? Where do they live, in the forest, or in the cluster? Does anything else they can hunt live on the small isle than just the three known species?

The Nightmare took in a large breath as though to make himself bigger before he could question him any further. "There's my cue," he sighed, a gnarled grin on his jaws. He turned to leave, then quickly snapped his head over to the young dragon. "Stay out of my way," he hissed, then swiftly flew off ahead, leaving behind a smoke trail.

The Night Fury glared after him, his wings flattening out. If he could, he would light his tail out of spite—no one talks to him as such and gets away with it. But when he watched him burst into flame in the distance, he knew it would not have done much to him. Irritate him, perhaps, but it was clear he would get his scales knocked off in the end either way.

Leaning into his peripheral vision, the Gronckle muttered, "I would listen to 'im. 'e is nasty angry."

Barely giving the old dragon a passing glance, he slowed to watch them advance to the island, preparing their firepower. As he flew by a towering rock formation, he looked over to find unique cuts in it that no water nor wind could make, a live fire in a large crevice. Casting his eyes about, he took in how rough the entire environment was, and wondered how anything could live there. They were ordered to hunt beasts _here_?

Then there came an echoing roar, followed by an explosion that set a wooden structure ablaze. Within seconds, there were outcries from within, and they flooded out in droves. From where he was, the Night Fury could only see dots scurrying about shouting indecipherably, but based on how unrecognizable they looked as a species, it was possible those were the humans. They were indeed what the tales claimed they were: aggressive bear-like beasts that walked upright and carried weapons. As more fires were started and spread, more came out and began wailing on the dragons, and putting up a good fight. Very few appeared to have difficulty joining in, and everything grew chaotic.

He kept at a steady distance as the flight scattered to wreck havoc and drive out what he thought were walking dandelion seeds. A number of his fellow comrades were swarming them, but not made a move to snatch them up as though they were purposefully putting fear into them. Some humans ran over to fight them off, and even they were getting the same treatment. He could just see the smirks on their scaly mugs as they reveled in it. This was more than just a duty for them, it was like a game or a sport. No matter how much they were swung at with weapons—which all looked like they would break in two after making contact with a dragon—they would come back for another round, laughing and spitting out fire in retaliation.

Somehow, this bothered the young dragon. For a "hunt", not many of them were taking it too seriously. Some have gotten themselves caught and smacked around by a human, though it had of yet to lead to copious bloodshed. It was only a matter of time.

"Here you are." It was one of the old Gronckles, the more feeble of the two. He fluttered up to his side, and scratched at his ear. "Been looking around, I see."

"How long have you been hunting here?" he questioned, not taking his eyes off the circle of dragons. "Is it always like this?"

The old dragon let out a wheezing laugh. "Never believe what the Nightmare tells you, he's haughty. This be our second week here. There was another nest of dragons that came here, but they had stopped showing up, so we took over."

"But why?"

"Why what? Why did we choose this place?" He chuckled again, eyes squinting in mirth. "Easy hunting. However, it has to be because humans are fun. Nasty beasts, though, think they are equal in power to us. But they're amusing, and despite last week, it was an experience."

Casting his eyes about once more, the young dragon finally turned to face his companion. "How successful was it last week?"

There was a shrug. "Guess it went well enough we were allowed to come back tonight. Lost quite a bit of numbers, though."

Growing concerned, he pressed on, "Did the Queen eat them?"

"No, she ate no one. Keep telling you, lad, humans are awful creatures." His wavering voice grew stern, almost as a seethe. "They're merciless, they will not hesitate to kill anything in their path, including a dragon bigger than it. May not be bright, but they are strong for something so small. Some still wrestle with their forelimbs, but they all carry those weapons. All dragons have a weakness and a blind spot, as I'm sure you know. But one hit with one of those things, and you're dead."

The Night Fury was not fazed by the explanation, but the hardened expression on the Gronckle's face made him feel a little tense. For all the stories depicting the humans as dumb beasts, it was easy to forget how dangerous they could be. He never saw them in action until tonight, and having to only rely on secondhand experience (as stories were passed from generation to generation, so he was told), anything threatening about them had been diluted by word of mouth. He had to wonder if the other dragons his age ever took the stories seriously despite laughing themselves breathless, since he felt rather underwhelmed from them. Stories of sea dragons and fish as large as them were more interesting than those of humans waddling around smacking heads with sticks.

"Stick to the skies if you want to live another night," was the suggestion, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Though you _will_ need to take in an offering, so..." the Gronckle smacked his maw absentmindedly, rolling his eyes over to the island, "...look for a youngling to swipe, and head to the nest. You look fast enough to do it without a weapon scraping you."

At that moment, a flying fireball made contact with a nearby two-headed dragon that was distracted in trying to set one of the large structures on fire. It did not crush a head, but it struck right in between the shoulders with a resounding crack, knocking it over with a shriek. The flames would not leave so much as a burn mark on them, it was the force of the blow that dealt visible damage.

"Oh, they have those launching sticks." He let out an acknowledging "hmph" from his throat. "Forgot about that."

The Night Fury quickly landed behind a rocky structure before peeking out, looking to find the source of the new attack. His eyes fell upon one a small group of humans had gathered around a little further from the fires, and they were moving it in a half-circle on a raised platform. One gave a commanding shout, and in the blink of an eye, the large weapon swung up, flinging a boulder into the side of a passing Gronckle. Above, a few scouter dragons were flying around looking for a way to shoot down the larger weapons, making some attempts, but hitting only once. Even so, that was not enough to destroy it, and the fire was able to be put out before the humans launched another attack.

As he watched, he noticed that although it was an advanced weapon meant for long distance, it took longer and was harder to hit a target, and thus had to be timed well enough. They could not set it off while moving it around—one of its weaknesses. Scanning its structure, and observing how it moved as it launched once more, his eyes lit up when he got an idea.

Taking a glance around his surroundings, he shot away from the ledge and past the old Gronckle, whom called after him in slight disarray, "Where are you going, lad?"

"I'm sticking to the skies, as you said!" He then shot up higher, allowing the wind to carry him as he circled the area, tracking down the opportune time to strike. It had to be at a time when there would be little casualties, if he can help it. There was a possibility he could still trigger the weapon, but if he could get a clean shot, it should crumble in place—he hoped. One miscalculation could ruin his chances of another strike.

Pumping through his small body was a vaguely familiar sensation that loosened his body, thus causing him to speed up and level with the wind. He opened his mouth, gathering heat and power into a ball in the back of his throat, and zoning in on his target, let it loose. His unique fire breath soared straight through the sky as though it was breaking through the very air itself, emitting an echo-like screech that froze everything in place. It took no more than a couple of seconds from beginning to end, and it was as though the world went silent for that short period of time. There were no roars, no shouting, no weapons making contact with dragons, everything cut itself off until the blast made contact.

There were two explosions: one from when it hit the weapon square in the heart of the structure, and the other from the aftershocks of the first that went in all directions. The humans that were there had to jump and roll wherever they were facing to avoid the falling wood and iron. And panic spread as fast as the fire just before the young dragon could circle back around. Even the other dragons were getting caught up in it, as they were looking around possibly trying to spot him. The Night Fury felt a sense of pride well up inside when he spotted the Nightmare stuck in one place, staring up at the sky as though in disbelief. For all the slack he gave him on the way over, it was worth the shot to step in.

Finding another of the large weapons, he stalked it from afar before swooping down to repeat his first move, streaking by the explosions. That one fell harder, but cleaner than the other, parts of it falling into the ocean. The cries grew more fervent, and some of the humans he noticed were dropping their weapons and fleeing from the scene. It was an amusing sight after having watched them charge after dragons twice their size. If he had been down there with the others, there was the chance neither of them would have given him a second glance.

Up here, try as they might, they could not see him. He could sense their fear rise into the atmosphere, clinging to him like dew. He laughed to himself and moved in for another round, thinking one or two more would do the trick. Some of the dragons had begun to fly away with their catch, signaling the hunt was close to finishing up. Inhaling deeply, the ebony dragon swung around and pulled himself in tighter to speed up.

Right as he fired, he saw the humans had also launched their attack, which was flying in his direction. He thought perhaps they had spotted him until a Gronckle zipped in front of him, inches between the explosion that ensued from the two shots colliding and himself. He scarcely missed hitting the dragon tilting up to vanish, and glanced behind him to find the humans looking around in confusion. The Gronckle continued to fly on, appearing to be oblivious to its surroundings. His brows furrowed, but thought nothing on it as he decided to return to the retreating flight, their talons and claws full of their spoils. Below, the humans watched in defeat, and some yelled after them. It was a satisfying sight.

The Night Fury flew beside the flight at a distance, listening in on their croning and roars of victory. Most of them sounded very pleased with themselves, others expressed some form of surprise. Then one questioned, "Where did that Night Fury fly off to?" which was a cue for him to move in closer.

As it turned out, the one that asked was the Nightmare, who quickly pulled him aside just when the others were thanking him. He just caught the sight of a round animal in his talons before he growled at him, "Did you do all of that?"

The young dragon was taken aback. "I stayed out of your way," he started to say, but his confronter interrupted with a shake of the head.

"That does not matter, did you _do _all of that?"

He shifted in place, his wings twitching. "I did."

To his surprise, though also relief, the Nightmare scoffed, a smirk growing on his face. "Those were our best snipers, and yet they waste firepower trying to shoot those down." That was news to him, he had thought they were scouters who were pitching in. "But it takes you one shot to burn them to the ground. It was only the two that I saw, but I heard you fire a third one. Did you get that as well?"

He was starting to sound a little excited. It made the Night Fury a little anxious, unsure what this was leading up to. "I fired, but so did the humans. I doubt they saw me, I think they were aiming for one of the Gronckles. The boulder exploded in mid-air before it hit either of us."

The large dragon let out a barking laugh, a sound that slightly startled him. "All of that came out of you?" His tone suggested he was observing a fact than asking a question. "You are scarcely bigger than a Terrible Terror, and you can cause explosions with one fireball?"

As proud as he wanted to be, the Night Fury's current state of shock left him too sheepish to boldly answer, so all he could do was nod. Then the flight went wild with cheering roars, moving to crowd around him again until the Nightmare held them off. "Let him be, all of you! Focus on taking the prey to the Queen for now, and then we can celebrate. Night Fury, do you understand how much this success means to us?"

He shook his head, having grown speechless at this point.

"Take a look at your brethren." He gestured to them with his head. "There are some injured dragons still with us, but not a single one perished in the hands of the humans. We brought back twice as much than we did the last time, enough to convince the Queen to make it our site."

A question still bothered him enough he forced himself to inquire, "But why that place?"

"Remember what I told you? Prey is fatter, and thus feeds the Queen better. When she eats her fill, what is left we eat ourselves."

The words of the old Gronckle echoed through his head, but he dared not show suspicion now that he was getting on his good side. Giving a nod of understanding, the Nightmare flashed a fanged grin, then flew off for the front. On the sidelines, the dragons still thanked and praised him for what he did, some expressing signs of relief like he just saved their hides. He would flick his ear in return, unsure how to respond to the sudden popularity.

A light bump against his shoulder caught his attention, and he met the pleased gazes of the old Gronckles. "Well done, lad," the feeble one said, giving him a nod. The other did the same, his jaws appearing to be locked up. "For your first night, you did as you said."

A smile curved at a corner until he remembered what he had said to the alpha. "How do I prove to the Queen I was true to my word, though?"

"There's enough meat to go around, and you have eyewitnesses. Do not worry yourself sick over it. This is for you, by the way." Glancing over to his companion to find he was starting to drift off, he bumped into him with a small grunt. Nodding, his mouth opened to reveal a young, fleeced animal that looked close to fainting as it let out a pitiful bleat.

The Night Fury couldn't help laughing a bit in amusement, feeling his teeth retract.


End file.
